Mad Man, Mad Monster
by Schingiuire Vristalica
Summary: An alternate continuation of the original write of Leashed Darkness. Abraham's attempt at controlling Dracula has failed, rather miserably. The fight for dominance continues to rage.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Hellsing nor any of its characters.

**Note**: This was supposed to be the continuation of the original Leashed Darkness (which can be found in full on my website). However with the rewrite of Leashed Darkness I decided to make this part of the story its own story and leave the original write of LD finished.

**Part One**

Journal Entry 475

_ Two months since I have last written within this journal. So much has happened, bad and good. I almost fear that I will not remember it all to etch into these pages. I suppose I should write about my happiest moment first. Nearly two weeks ago I received a telegram from the asylum my dearest Elizabeth has been healing within. She is well! She has been cured of her madness. My heart still leaps for joy. Dear Elizabeth, my charming wife. I have taken her back into my care here at the manor. She seems perfectly well, though a bit quiet, but can anyone truly hope for a perfect recovery?_

_ But that brings to mind that hideous scar upon my current life; the vampire Alucard. When Elizabeth returned, I released Alucard from his probation to his own devises within the dungeons. I have disposed of all other subjects and staff, and have abandoned most of my studies for a time. My reasoning is to spend time with my wife and give her the care she needs to complete her recovery into the sane world._

_ Alucard seems to have taken well to his limited freedom within the lowers. It is my intent to keep him well and healthy in the thought that he will remain quiet and content. I have no desire for Elizabeth to find out about him or my previous work here. I still, at times, will continue studies upon Alucard, but most discreetly._

_ Now I must move onto a darker part of these last months. Something strange has been coming over me at most interesting times. I am, apparently, exhibiting all the symptoms of a split personality, which I find to be most queer, as such things do not just happen in one's life. I have found myself, on multiple occasions, acting without thinking or knowing what I am doing. There have been at least five times, of which I have kept record, that I 'wake up' while doing some task. Of course, when I awaken, I have no inkling of what this task was, only that it was important to do and I was either beginning it, or in the middle of it._

_ This I hope to uncover the mystery to very soon. It will not do for me to abandon Elizabeth to some strange urge to gather files from old studies. I will have to watch myself very closely, and be careful because there are others watching as well._

_ I am so happy Elizabeth is home. Here she can be well cared for and well loved._

Alucard tossed the journal back into Abraham's desk drawer, taking care to shut it quietly. He felt conflicted with two emotions: one of glee at it seemed that the strange woman who had arrived within the household, that he was instructed to stay away from and appear to not exist to at all cost, was his master's wife. On the other hand, Abraham was catching on that something was not completely right. He perhaps did not realize it just yet, but he would. Abraham was a crafty human.

The vampire steepled his fingers, leaning back in Abraham's chair. The office was quiet, dark, and only the light of the moon shining from the open window offered any sort of illumination. Deep in thought, Alucard had no care of being caught sifting through his master's journal or any of his other things. He and the charming woman were off the estate, most likely to a theater.

A bored expression crossed his face, and Alucard's red eyes dropped back to Abraham's desk, noting a drawer he had never peered into before. Almost of it's own violation, the drawer slid open, Alucard leaning forward to gaze into the darkness. Only a single stack of paper rested there, held together with various clips. A single word was typed, centered, across the top page: Dracula. Frowning now, Alucard reached into the drawer, lifting the stack of papers out to set them atop the desk and stare at the word upon the top page. His name, or rather, it had been his name at one time. Another thing Abraham had taken from him. But what was this?

The clicking of hooves reached his ears through the open window. It seemed his master had returned from his pleasurable evening. A sneer spread over the vampire's face. Perhaps the master sought a different kind of pleasurable evening here at the manor. And then he felt it, the first pangs of an unknown emotion, one he had never felt, not since his human days. And those were emotions long forgotten. He felt jealousy, which was the only way he could describe it. Jealousy at this strange woman taking his master's attention away from their games.

Snatching up the unknown stack of papers, Alucard clutched them to his chest, the pages somehow not marred as they were pressed against the belts and buckles of the restraint suit. In a strangely undramatic exit, the vampire fled back to the lower levels, knowing it would ruin his turn upon the chess game of his and Abraham's relationship to be caught 'disobeying.' But really, Abraham was so lost in his love fluffed world he was becoming blinded to the ways of the world he was rightly a part of!

OoOoO

Lies! Blasphemy! How could anyone write such filth? Alucard paced from wall to wall within his quarters, ungloved hands flipping through the loose pages of the book, _Dracula_, he had taken from Abraham's desk. Eyes glowing brightly and a snarl of such hatred twisted upon his face that he frightened even the ghosts that lurked within the halls. This...this treachery depicted him as no more than some gutter rat! It was a slap in the face, no, it was quite more than that. This smeared his entire history, his entire reputation. It was a physiological neutering! If he was not already out of his grave he would be rolling in it at the knowledge that such a work of fiction had even been retched upon his domain.

The papers were now messily stacked together, after having been thrown across the cell several times to scatter over the stones. Alucard had reached many scenes in the book in which he thought himself unable to continue, throwing the pages from him as if they were made of blessed silver, only to pace with the need to know how much more of his life had been ground into the muck. Each time he had gathered up the pages, reassembling them into proper order to continue reading, only to throw them again with a snarl of rage.

Abraham must answer to this! Looking down at the top page, the word, his very name, glaring up at him, laughing, mocking him for what he had become. This work of fiction made him nothing more than a scary bedtime spook. A thing of children's horrors. In his homeland, mothers would tell their children to stay out of the woods at night for a good and real reason! A monster, a beast lurked there that would drain your blood and drape your organs through the trees to give the wolves something fun to snap at! Here, in England, he was now something mothers would tease their children about. 'Be good or the big bad vampire will come and take you away!'

It sickened him. It sucked something pure and raw from his soul and smashed it against the stone at his feet. All that he had endured, it was nothing like this...this lie! This biased lie! History was written by the victor, true. But the victor should have some moral sense of honesty! Alucard gripped the pages tightly, as if in his anger he could kill the lies and humiliation with his bare hands. Looking upward, he attuned his senses, wanting to confront his master about this matter at the soonest moment. He could hear all the sounds of the mansion, every young heart of the maids beating, all the tapping of feet, and the sleeping mumbles of the lady Elizabeth. Abraham was in his office at this very moment. Alucard wondered offhandedly if Abraham noticed the missing text.

Abraham was writing the evening's events down in his journal, continuing from where he had left off the previous day in his absent minded ramblings, attempting to document all that had happened in the times he had, strangely, been forgetting to write. The cool air of the room dropped several degrees, and the flame on the candles flickered in a wind that did not exist. It was the same dramatic entrance the vampire always chose to use.

"What do you want, Alucard?" Abraham asked the shadows quietly, sighing as he closed the journal and slipped it back into it's drawer. He nearly jumped when the manuscript was slammed onto his desk, scattering files and other documents that had been resting in neat stacks across the wood surface.

"Explain this to me," Alucard growled fiercely.

Abraham frowned at the pages before him, sighing as he decided to put off yelling at the vampire about the mess of his files now. This conversation had to come eventually. But first...

"You were in my desk," he stated, not even caring to answer his servant's rather rude request. "How can you be offended by anything you've found by snooping about like a rat?"

The vampire was not in the least amused or mollified by this remark. "Interesting pen name, Abraham Stoker, Bram Stoker. What is this? Explain this to me!" Alucard slammed his palm down on the manuscript, his face so twisted in fury he almost looked like someone else.

Abraham seemed not in the least affected by this rage, instead leaning back in his chair and draping his wrists over the armrests. "Supposing you have already read it, I do not feel the need to explain anything to you. Even if you have not read it, I do not give an accounting of my life, actions, or choices, to you. However, because I feel that I would enjoy your reaction, I will tell you." Abraham smirked slightly, lifting a hand and gesturing to the abused manuscript pages. "I wrote a book. Within it I have given you immortality. It has already been accepted by a publisher and has a release date set. In several months, our little tale will be released to the citizens of England."

"What is within these pages is pure filth and lies!" Alucard snatched up the top page, glaring darkly at his own name typed across the center. "This," he hissed darkly, shaking the page and crumpling it between his hands. "This is not me! I am not this thing you have written me as. You have made me a fictional character, no, not made me anything! You have taken my name from me, not renamed me at all, but taken my name, giving me Alucard, and plastering my true name onto this...this embarrassing thing you call a vampire!"

"Enough of this, Alucard." Abraham opened his mouth to continue when the vampire tossed the smashed page from him, slamming his hands down on either side of the manuscript, glaring fiercely at Abraham. "You have tarnished everything I am and ever will be. You've made me, my people, and my species a joke for your 'civilization' to laugh about and chatter over tea. A joke is all I'll ever be to your people. A fright and boogie man of bedtime stories! Of all things you do to me, oh dear Master, this is the worst, and I will not let you get away with this!"

"Enough!" Abraham was on his feet, not even remembering how he had come to be that way.

"I agree," The vampire hissed. "This is all quite enough." With those words, Alucard disappeared in a swirl of shadow and fury. Abraham sighed, rubbing his temples as he sat back upon the leather chair, looking with tired eyes upon the stack of pages. This was another victory in his eyes. A way to keep the vampire from never forgetting him, never forgetting that he was the master and he could control him in any setting: reality or fantasy.

OoOoO

Alucard moved with silent steps through the hallways, preferring to walk for this mission. This late at night, even Abraham was not awake, sleeping peacefully with his wife as he now did. Alucard was the lone ghost of the past, the wraith that moved in steps only to torment those that wronged him. In this case, Abraham. The plan was one he had been dwelling on for days, one that would fully complete Abraham's repenting for this grand sin against the only one that knew him. And oh how Alucard would make him repent!

The door to the main office offered no obstruction, only locked to the mortals after all, not the ghosts of the past. The vampire phased through with ease, his elliptical pupils contracting as they targeted their gaze furiously upon the desk. Abraham had disposed of the manuscript, at least it was no where in sight. Alucard glided more than walked toward the desk, stepping around to open the drawer where his master's journal lay, a glaring reminder of all the past. While he might be a ghost, this was a scar. Not all could see ghosts, scars were plainly visible, if only they were uncovered.

Holding the leather bound journal in his hands, Alucard shut the drawer and disappeared down the hallways. His walk was swift, that of one on a mission. His master needed to be reminded of who he was! He must be reminded of who his life belonged to now! And it was certainly not the frail woman with green eyes and blond hair that slept with him during the long nights when the vampire was lonely. And most importantly, Abraham must be punished. Again, this relationship went both ways. Alucard was slowly beginning to feel an ownership for Abraham. This man was his master, his provider, everything in his existence revolved around the single human.

The vampire stopped at the door to Elizabeth's sitting room, the old 'sun room' as Alucard had called it for many years. She sat in here most mornings, watching the sun rise while she ate her breakfast and allowed the attending maids to pamper her. Alucard hissed between his teeth. Oh yes, Abraham would be punished. He would learn that such wrongs extending past the relationship, extending into humiliation on such a grand scale, tarnishing everything he ever was. This kind of mockery must be dealt with in a severe manner. It was time to make Abraham realize he was a slave just as much as his vampire servant.

Alucard set the journal where it would be easily seen by the female Hellsing, turning it to where the leather would catch the light and shine just so. He stepped back, observing his handiwork with a slight smirk. It was then that his mind took a different turn, following upon the path of his grander plan. Abraham suspected, but he was far too busy with other things to investigate.

The vampire was sure he could play the pet for a little longer, until he struck where Abraham would never see it coming. Though his own mind. Alucard chuckled softly, the mask of the obedient, jealous dog sliding from his features to reveal the true monster, spawn of Hell beneath.

"You cannot evade me forever," Dracula rumbled deep in his chest. "You will be mine before you realize it. Already my essence seeps into your thoughts, and you are none the wiser. You who are too concerned about a pet will never realize the threat of the monster."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part Two**

Seward could feel a chill in the air the moment he stepped out of his carriage. A fog had descended over the road about half a mile from the manor, and now he could see that this was the epicenter of it. It was no natural fog, for when he breathed it in, there was a stale smell of decay in the vapors. Seward half expected to be tripping over weeks old corpses through Abraham's lawn. The cab driver already had his horses moving before the doctor could turn around and pay him. Seward blinked as he watched the driver toss his luggage from the rack as the horses were already racing away from this place of terror. He could hear their ragged, terrified breath and suppressed a shudder.

Who could blame the man? Individuals who had not dealt with supernatural beasts could hardly be blamed for feeling fear. Seward himself had encountered one of the most powerful, and survived, and he still could feel a cold, animal terror rising in his chest, threatening to choke his breathing and send him yelling after the cab to take him away from this cursed place.

It was nearly a month ago he had received a telegram from Arthur Godalming suggesting something seriously wrong. Abraham had sent him a letter that had a few troubling statements about the sinister occupant Abraham had vowed to command and control. Statements which may have hinted that Dracula was slowly slipping free through a hole Abraham could not identify. The telegram had begged Seward to investigate, as Abraham had not replied to any letters since.

Looking around the lawn of the estate, Seward was silently wondering if he should have passed the visit back to Arthur, but Abraham was a very dear friend. Even more than that, Abraham was his mentor. Seward took his first cautious step over the cobble stone walk, his lungs seeming to strain to breathe the noxious fog. He was not sure without crouching to look, but the grass seemed dead. Furrowing his brow and turning in a slow circle, Seward noted that there didn't seem to be any life on the estate at all. Where were the guards, the dogs, any of the number of people that moved on their duties here? The trees, plants, grass, everything seemed dead. Not a bird song, nor chirp of an insect broke the air. Seward felt as if he had walked into a proverbial tomb.

Steeling his resolve, Seward approached the large door to the manor, lifting a hand to rap against the wood with his knuckles. Even before the echo faded, he felt as if a _presence_ had turned it's attention to his existence. Moments before he had been about as important as a gnat around a giant's eye, but now he was disturbing this presence.

Clearing his throat and deciding finally that he could distract himself no longer. Something was very wrong here, and whatever it was, it could not bode well for Abraham. Seward let himself into the manor, some instinctive force suppressing his urge to call out for Abraham, or really any other living being. As he shut the door behind him, Seward swore he saw a shadow shift, moving in a way it was not meant to. Though, when he turned, there was nothing there, which set him even more one edge.

Seward strode through the empty building, noting the layer of dust that covered everything. If he had not known otherwise, he would have guessed this place to have been long abandoned. As he made his way up the steps, Seward contemplated reasoning for the sudden state of Abraham's home. Part of him very well knew the reason, Dracula. But for something this drastic to happen, the beast would have to be free of Abraham's hold. If that were true, Seward himself would be dead as he was quite sure Dracula would end the lives of those who brought his downfall the moment he had the chance.

He was shocked out of his thoughts as he reached the top of the stairs. A withered corpse sat with it's back against the wall, eyeless sockets staring up at the ceiling, mouth hanging open from the muscles going slack at death. Seward felt a sick feeling swimming in his gut, as if an eel were twisting wildly to get free of his insides.

"Gods," he whispered to himself, now more keenly aware of the presence that he could feel watching him. The hair on the back of his neck lifted, and he then sprinted down the hallway, passing yet another corpse, withered as if it had been dead in the desert for months. "Abraham!" he yelled, slamming his shoulder against the door of his mentor's office, a blast of stagnate air hitting him in the face.

And there he lay, the great Abraham, monster slayer, crumpled against the side of his desk as if he were a boxer having lost a great fight. Seward called out his name again, rushing to the side of his friend and feeling an almost choking happiness to find the man still alive, though very weak.

"Abraham, my friend. Come on, I'll get you out of here," he promised, whispering to the still form, hoping to rouse Abraham. Abraham shifted slightly and Seward whispered a silent prayer as he hooked an arm under his friend and tried to help him stand.

He cried out in sudden shock as Abraham's arm hooked around his throat, spinning him and slamming him into the desk. Seward tried to push himself away, and just barely missed a blow from Abraham's fist that would have either crushed his skull or knocked him out.

"What's wrong?" Seward cried, breathless as he jumped away from Abraham. The man's skin was deathly pale, but he had felt a heartbeat. Abraham turned to him, moving fluidly and settling his blue eyes upon Seward.

But there was something very wrong with his eyes. Blue as they were, there was a red glow to them, and strange red streams in his eyes, as if someone were bleeding into crystal waters. "My God," Seward gasped. "What happened to you, Abraham?" He took another step back, his heart hammering in his chest.

Ghostly words spoken in a deep, sinister voice rose behind him. "To toy with the dead, one should be prepared to join their ranks." The final word was bitten off with a dark hiss, and Seward turned, half expecting to be faced with a forked tongued demon. But only Dracula stood there, proud and tall, appearing for all the world as if he had just stepped out of a fifteenth century battlefield.

"Why dear Seward," Abraham spoke up, his voice a verbal mix of both his true voice and the sinister deep voice of the demon. "You appear to have seen a ghost."

"A ghost yes," Dracula chuckled, his subtly curling hair falling over one side of his face. "Because he will not walk much longer, not in this world. Behold!" the demon suddenly barked, eyes bright with dancing hellfire. "You have arrived for the human monster's final moments! It won't be long now," he chortled.

"What have you done to him, monster?" Seward spoke up, gathering his courage. Dracula could not be fought with fear, and certainly not when Abraham appeared to be in his grasp.

"Done to him?" the vampire parroted, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head to the side. An armored hand lifted, brushing over the slight facial hair that covered his chin and upper lip. "A vexing question," he chuckled. "What have I _ever_ done to him?"

Dracula clasped his hands behind his back, slowly approaching Seward with a narrowed visage. "You ask what I have done to him. Have you any idea what he has done to _me_?"

Seward held his ground, turning slowly to keep the vampire in his vision as it walked in a slow, predatory circle around him. "But that does not matter any longer," Dracula paused, waving a hand in dismissal of his own question. "He is mine now. My little puppet. But you, Dr. Seward. I am just a bit more fond of you. So I will give you a sporting chance. Leave now, and get your sad little band together. Let us see if you can take me a second time, without the help of this monster here."

Dracula moved behind Abraham, brushing the back of his armored fingers over the man's unshaven cheek. "You're draining the life out of everything here," Seward suddenly realized. "Sucking it up through the fog." It was a statement, not a question, for there really was no other answer to why everything was dead without any sign of struggle. And it even more explained the decayed smell of the very air.

The vampire chuckled, a deep, wicked sound. "Yes," he replied. "But not everything. This occult seal scarred onto my flesh will not let me drain this one, not like the others," Dracula moved around Abraham again, dragging his fingers over the human's clothed chest. "I have to try a different way. But the end result is still the same."

He turned on a heel, leering saber teeth at Seward, his eyes flecked with yellow. "Why are you not running?" he suddenly asked, one eyebrow raising slightly. "I gave you your chance, and I will not offer again."

"Abraham will be accompanying me," Seward stated bluntly to the vampire's face,forcefully working to still his hammering heart. Dracula would only become excited by the sound and smells of fear, he needed to win control over this situation. As far as he could tell, Dracula was still under Abraham's control, though Abraham himself was under Dracula's control. It was a vicious circle that kept either of them from doing anything.

"Oho?" Dracula straightened himself, looking down at Seward with an eerily mirthful expression. "You will be taking him with you then? And what if he does not wish to go? He enjoys my company so much, I doubt he will ever leave," Dracula barked a laugh, his eyes flashing, elliptical pupils contracting to narrow in at Seward.

"You cannot stop me," Seward challenged, crushing a shudder that threatened to wrack his body at the sudden flash of violence that revealed itself in Dracula's eyes.

Seward narrowed his own eyes as Dracula raised an arm, long black talons lengthening from the tips of his armored fingers. "My offer has now expired," the vampire hissed, his arm arching back to strike at him. Abraham's hand lunged out, snatching Dracula by the wrist.

"Down boy," he rasped, his face hard, with nothing suggesting his earlier insanity.

The vampire looked at him with wide eyes, the look of one who was not believing what he was seeing. Abraham shoved the vampire to the side, Dracula not resisting him at all as he was shoved. Seward stepped forward as Abraham suddenly staggered nearly falling.

"Get me out of here," he whispered in a weak voice at Seward, who happily obliged, helping his friend along the hallways, avoiding the various corpses as much as he could. The cab was long gone, and Seward doubted there were any horses alive in the stables. Seeing no other option, he pulled Abraham along, whispering little phrases of encouragement until they were well beyond the gates of the manor. As they reached the road, Seward turned to look over his shoulder through the now thinning mist and allowed a shudder as he could distinctly make out a figure standing tall and proud, almost like a macabre gargoyle, at the gates to the Hellsing estate.

Part Two

The thunderous crack of Abraham's fist meeting the wall made them all jump. "How dare that beast test _me_? How dear that scum kill everything on my estate? Men, women, animals, plants, everything was dead, I could _feel_ it. Alucard was seeping through my mind, trying to break the seal by controlling _me_!"

"Please calm down, Professor," a young nurse urged, moving quickly around the bed to take Abraham's arm and lead him back to lie down. "If you stress yourself out too much you will not have the energy for anything."

Abraham hissed something that Seward could not quite catch. "I'll grind the fiend's brain to paste for this," he snapped, ignoring the odd look he garnered from the nurse, who checked his pulse then slipped out of the room.

Seward watched her go, waiting for a moment before turning back to Abraham. It had taken a few days, but the doctor was good as new now, at least for the most part. He certainly had his temper back. Ever since his mind had come back around he had been cursing Alucard's name.

The guest room of his house was not much, but Seward felt that Abraham was comfortable enough here, at least until he regained strength enough to put down the vampire.

"Abraham, this seems a bit more than just a simple rebellion. When I stepped out of the carriage, there was a cold evil in the air."

Abraham brushed a hand over his face, letting out a sigh. Seward could see his weary muscles relax as he was confronted with a dark truth. "It was madness," the Hellsing replied after a few moments. "He has finally gone mad. I think he may have attacked the seal from various points simultaneously. The only loophole he could find was through my mind, and so he took that option. I had been feeling ill for several days before everything was lost."

Seward nodded, a deep frown over his features. "Dracula is a monster, cold and true. I think it is best to treat him like a monster, and not like the pet you have been trying to make him. Monsters cannot be tamed, they must be caged, or at least put on a chain with a decent run."

His fellow looked up for a moment, the ice blue eyes narrowed in contemplation. "You expect me to forgive his behavior because he is what he is?"

"No," Seward shook his head quickly. "I did not say he could not be trained, but he cannot be tamed. You cannot beat the instincts out of a wolf. But rather, point those instincts in the direction you wish him to expend his energy."


End file.
